Packings



Sept. 20, 1966 J. w. CHALMERS 3,273,780

PAGKINGS Filed March 50, 1964 /Ml/E/V TOR ATTO/ME75 United States Patent 3,273,780 PACKWGS John Walker Chalmers, Deptford, London, England, as-

signor to The Molins @rganisation Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Mar. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 355,780 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 26, 1963, 16,542/63 3 Claims. (Cl. 229-37) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to packings used for containing rod-like articles (eg. cigarettes).

The form and style of a packing used to contain articles such as cigarettes is usually dependent on a series of factors many of which conflict with others. Possibily the most important factor is the quality of the packing in so far as it has what is known as consumer appeal. This factor, if given undisputed sway, would soon some into conict wi-th .the price factor which dictates the economic level at which a packing can be produced. Other factors such as the amount of protection afforded the cigarettes by the packing, the degree to which the packing can retain the `aromatic properties of .the cigarettes, the package complexity and thus the cap-ital cost of the machine used to pack the cigarettes must als-o be considered. Consequently there is always a demand for new styles of packing, in which such factors and others unmentioned may be optimised.

The term container as used herein shall be taken to mean a surrounding envelope for a group of rod-like articles, the envelope being formed by six panels joined one to another. Four panels are longitudinal panels, i.e., they surround the length of the rod-like articles, while the other two panels comprise a top and bottom panel, against which respectively one end of each rod-like article a-buts. When used herein to describe a panel the Word longitudinal shall be taken to refer to one of the four panels surrounding the length of the rod-like articles.

According to the presen-t invention there is provided a method of forming a container to hold rod-like articles (eg. cigarettes), comprising the steps of: causing a strip of sheet material to adhere along one edge of a piece of sheet material, the length of the strip being less than the length of the edge; folding the piece of sheet material so as to forma tube having a longitudinal seam transverse to the one edge to which the strip adheres; forming the end of the tube opposite that containing the strip into a bottom of the container; and folding the strip so as to form an incomplete top to the container.

Further according to the invention there is provided a container to hold rod-like articles (eg. cigarettes) formed from sheet-like material into a tube having four longitudinal panels and a bottom panel, and having an incomplete top panel made of a material with a different appearance to the said sheet-like material to which the incomplete top panel is xed on the inside of three of the four longitulinal panels. The container may be provided with a detachable t-op which fits over the incomplete top panel .and down part of the four longitudinal panels.

A container and method of making the same will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a container according to the invention with a removable cap,

yFIGURE 2 is a view of the material sheets from which the container and cap of FIGURE 1 are made.

yIn FIGURE 2 there is shown a rectangular piece of material 1 to which is attached a strip of material 2 along one edge 3 of the rectangular piece 1. The rectangular piece 1 can be made of any suitable material, for instance paper, foil, sheet plastic, plastic impregnated paper or even from a duplex laminated material while the strip 2 can be made from any dissimilar or if a duplex laminated material is used for the pieces 1, the strip 2 can be made of the same material but with reverse faces abutting along the edge 3l.

The length of the strip 2 is less than that of the edge 3 of the rectangular piece 1 and is attached to it by any suitable means (e.g. by the use of adhesives, by heat sealing, or ultrasonically) approximately centrally.

The resultant sheet formed from the joined pieces 1 and 2 is -then folded in a conventional manner to produce a package. For example, an edge 4 of the resultant sheet is caused to overlap the opposite edge 5 by folding the sheet around a mandrel or arbor to produce an openended tube. This tube comprises four longitudinal panels, tw-o of which 6 and 7 are narrow and two S and 9 are wide (see FIGURE 1). The edge 10 opposite to the edge 3 of the tube is then folded to form a bottom 11 of the package. Similarly after the rod-like articles have been inserted int-o the tube and come to rest against the bottom 11, the top is formed by iirst folding the narrow panel 6 and then the wide panels 8 and 9. Thus an incomplete .top 12 is formed. A closure strip 13 is then placed over the top 12 of the package and is sealed by being caused to adhere to the wide panels 8 and 9. Since the incomplete top 12 is formed from the strip 2, which is attached to the inside of the panels `6, 7, 3 and 9 the appearance of the completed package is such that the outside of the top 12 is made from a different material as the outside of the rest of the package.

A removable cap 14 is supplied with this package. The cap 14 lits snugly over the top of the package and extends a short way down the longitudinal panels, 6, 7, 8` and 9. The cap 1d is made from a further strip 15 by first folding over an edge 16 to overlap the opposite edge 17 thus forming a short tube, and then by folding the top of the tube to form a top 18 of the cap 1d as described hereinbefore.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

`1. A container formed from a strip of sheet material and a rectangle of sheet material, said strip being caused to adhere along one edge of said rectangle with the length of said strip less than the length of said edge, comprising a tubelike body formed from the combined strip and rectangle and having a seam transverse to said edge, a sealed bottom opposite said edge formed by folding the end of the tube and an incomplete top formed by folding said strip.

2. A container to hold rod-like cigarettes formed from sheet-like material into a tube having four longitudinal panels and a bottom panel, and having an incomplete top panel made of a material with different appearance to the same sheet-like material, the incomplete top panel being xed on the inside of three of the four longitudinal panels.

3. A container as claimed in claim 2, provided with a detachable cover which is capable of fitting over the incomplete panel and down part of the four longitudinal panels.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,187,198 6/1916` Stern. 1,809,218 6/1931 Rid-dell 206-41.2 X 1,824,948 9/ 1931 Fields 2,29--51 1,900,389 3/fl933 Reed. 2,109,100 2/1938 Brophy 229--87 2,805,018 9/1957 Aiken 229-87 X GEORGE O. RALSTON, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CONTAINER FORMED FROM A STRIP OF SHEET MATERIAL AND A RECTANGLE OF SHEET MATERIAL, SAID STRIP BEING CAUSED OF ADHERE ALONG ONE EDGE OF SAID RECTANGLE WITH THE LENGTH OF SAID STRIP LESS THAN THE LENGTH OF SAID EDGE, COMPRISING A TUBELIKE BODY FORMED FROM THE COMBINED STRIP AND RECTANGLE AND HAVING A SEAM TRANSVERSE TO SAID EDGE, A SEALED BOTTOM OPPOSITE SAID EDGE FORMED BY FOLDING THE END OF THE TUBE AND AN INCOMPLETE TOP FORMED BY FOLDING SAID STRIP. 